Our strategy

We focus on business in specialist markets which exhibit good growth potential, and we aim to be a leading player in those markets. We serve a breadth of markets where specialised technology solutions are required. We believe this breadth strengthens our business, allowing us to benefit from the upticks in particular growth markets, but diversifies the risk by not being overly dependent on one single market or customer.

We hold leading positions across the majority of our markets and we look to improve market share including in areas where we are not a leading supplier already. We make strategic acquisitions in parallel high-growth sectors that are complementary to our existing served markets, where we can develop the acquired businesses through the leverage of our capabilities and global scale. An example of this is our acquisition of Klüver in March 2011, where we saw an opportunity to expand our existing thermal management product offering into the growing medical market, and also to expand the distribution of the Klüver products globally, outside the German market on which it had focused.

Our commitment to engineering research and development across the business is fundamental to our ongoing success. Our ability to innovate allows us to adapt to new programmes and keep pace with industry evolution, in markets that are inherently fast-paced. Our investment in R&D has been maintained throughout the recent global downturns reflecting its importance as a technology-based competitive advantage, across the whole of our business.

Laird supplies bespoke, specialised components, systems and solutions that are increasingly important in modern electronic devices. Higher speed, power and performance of electronic devices, as well as the increasing trend to wireless connectivity, drives an ever-growing need for our products and solutions. A key part of our strategy is to develop our business by selling more specialised components and systems that have greater added value, that combine our broad range of technology and which offer the opportunity of higher margins.

In our Wireless Systems division we also have the ability to offer bundled solutions such as modules, sub-assemblies and fully embedded systems within one device, which provide multi-functional value, such as combining various wireless protocols (such as WiFi and Bluetooth) into one solution.

We will continue to seek and invest in other opportunities that allow us to expand our vertical integration and combine our specialist product families.

We have continued to develop a range of systems that combine the traditional hardware elements of a device with software that makes for a ‘user friendly’ experience. Our focus on these systems brings both higher margins and more sustainable revenue streams, including aftermarket revenues. Our capabilities are growing in this area and recent product innovation has further allowed us to bring systems with two-way information flow to the market in our Telematics/”M2M” and antennae businesses. Our 'smart antenna' combine cellular and GPS/Satellite antennae, wireless modules and input-output interfaces, which are all software controlled.

Acquisitions, such as our Wireless Automation and Control Solutions business, allow us to offer software driven products and systems that possess the ability to control and feedback information remotely, improving efficiency and safety for the operator.

We will continue to invest in and develop technologies that lead to product integration and which deliver attractive margins and after-market revenues.

Operational excellence is a 'given' to our highly skilled and motivated workforce throughout the world. In addition, inherent across all our activities, are our environmental and social responsibility values which ensure we are a good citizen in the localities in which we do business. In order to ensure our products are of the highest quality, we make a strategic choice to look for supplier partners whose views are aligned to ours in corporate responsibility, towards the environment, other employees and to the community.